K-pop and Fetishism

Source; profilethai.com

I was listening to MBLAQ's 'Y' and suddenly it occurred to me that K-pop is full of people trying to cater to people's taste in certain body/personlaity  type. The obvious way to see this is how the  groups are marketed. It is no secret that 2PM are marketed as 'beastly men'. Their selling point is their manly physique and muscles. The obvious fetish here is the obsession over uber masculine bodies. Then you have Shinee, a flower boy group. The boys are all pretty with great skin, they are lean, tall and have androgynous features. If we go past the body and shape differences, you also see idol groups being catered toward certain personality type. You have the quiet one (Minho of Shinee) or the eccentric one (Heechul of Super Junior). What is interesting is how within an idol group such as MBLAQ, the boys are also marketed as certain stereotypes. For example in MBLAQ, Thunder is the cute one. Mir is the maknae/underage kid.* Joon is the jock/muscular type, G.O is the intellectual while Seung Ho is the boy next door. If you look at other boy groups you will find the same parallel. The same differentiation  of specific attributes within an idol group apply to both male and female groups. SNSD is the cute group and famous for their aegyo and sexiness. I find it interesting that how much of their MVs and choreography focuses on their legs. All the outfits are made to accentuate a certain body part and is a clear example of fetishization. 2ne1 is the fierce group and like a lot of groups has a sexy one (Bom), underage/maknae (Minzy), cute one (Dara), the fierce/rebel girl (CL). What is interesting to me is how many of these idol groups actively pander to a specific market. While Noonas (older women) make the biggest fan demographic for Shinee, Ahjussis (older men) makeup the biggest fan demographic for Girl's Generation. Some of the fetishization is not problematic (I guess) but as this  group demonstrates, marketing a group based on a specific physical attribute can backfire. I am no psychologist or sociologist but I wonder if all these pandering to people's fetishes has either a positive/negative consequence for the Korean society. I dunno, I want to know. I also wonder how much manga/manhwa culture has affected k-pop groups.

* Mir is of course legal now just like Taemin but his youth was one of the selling points.